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Dead Earth: A.T.H.
Chapter 14: Colossi Attack

Chapter 14: Colossi Attack

Saturday - October 27th, 2121:

As the beast broke through the trees, I could see human mouths lining the sides of its torso, with elongated viney tongues salivating for a meal. It was akin to a colossal gorilla, covered in fur and tense muscles that could easily break a man in half.

The Caretaker engorged his body into a hulking colossal form and leaped forward, slamming his bark-covered fist at the Colossi's face. The flat-faced creature snarled and thrashed, whipping its muscular arm back at the Caretaker. With each step the two took, the ground quaked, and the surroundings demolished.

From the corner of my visor's vision, I could see Sapphire standing to the side with his arms outstretched toward the beast and the gemstones embedded into his arms glimmering with a pulsating blue. I didn't know what he was doing, but I could see sweat blanketing his face as he strained himself.

Everything was difficult for my mind to process. I thought these survivors were normal, or at least more so than the others, but seeing the Caretaker's massive size slamming against the creature completely belied the normalcy I expected.

The creature snarled and gnashed its stony teeth at the Caretaker in an attempt to devour the man in one bite. But the Caretaker was not a weakling either. His bark-like flesh proved to be a natural counter against the animalistic frenzy of a seemingly mindless creature.

"Fauna, is the coast clear?" Venus asked the girl whose body was covered with patches of fur and had animal ears and a tail.

"Yes, no other animals nearby." Fauna nodded, her ears visibly twitching.

"Flora?"

"All clear," Flora replied briefly from her position behind Geode.

"Caretaker, everything's clear, you can proceed." Venus chirped toward the battle.

I expected the battle to turn into a hunt, with the Caretaker defeating the beast in a split second. Yet the mindless creature turned out to be far from mindless as a sharp glint shone from its eye, and it ducked underneath the Caretaker's side, shoving him off balance and throwing the man into the distance. Before the Caretaker could react, the beast lunged toward Sapphire with immense yearning.

Sapphire didn't need to move. He remained rooted in place with arms outstretched and glowing. Geode rushed forward, his body taking on a rough exterior as minerals and stones poked out from his flesh. His bulky form gained momentum quickly, and he slammed into the beast, deflecting his attack on Sapphire.

As the beast bounced back, the Caretaker rushed forward and pinned it down with his thick, bark-covered arms. The gorilla thrashed and spat, but it proved futile as the Caretaker rooted himself firmly into the ground, suffocating the life from the beast.

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The children breathed audible sighs of relief, and I could see the glow around Sapphire dulling as he was about to lower his arms.

But then a tearing sound crackled like thunder in the sky, and from the gorilla's abdomen, a scaled human with an elongated tail burst, striking the Caretaker with a swift whip-like motion that cracked his bark-covered surface and sent him rolling across the ground.

"Caretaker!" The children screamed out, and Sapphire immediately raised his arms, glowing brighter than he had before, to the point where I could see blood flowing from his eyes.

The snake-human hissed at Sapphire's action, which made me realize that the boy was most likely attacking the mind the same way he spoke. But compared to the gorilla, this human seemed far more resilient. Its scaled body slithered against the ground with quick strides and went toward Sapphire. The other children attacked just as quickly, resulting in a wildly inhumane sight as plants, vines, stones, and various minerals moved at the children's whim.

The Caretaker picked himself up as well. His flesh bled, and his rejuvenated form seemed to dwindle and dry up, but his size remained enlarged as he grasped at the snakeman. As it faced an attack from all sides, the creature coiled up, hissing loudly as the human vanished into a scaly swirl that caused the attacks to land flatly against it. Immediately, he unwrapped and slammed into the Caretaker's arm, causing further damage to the bark covering. It then lunged with its human arms toward the children as an instant reflex.

I saw Bull charge toward the snake with his small form blackening, horns growing from his head, thickening into the size of an adult man's thighs. He slammed into the snakeman recklessly, and as he did, Thorn began to change as well, his body shrinking into itself as the thorny spikes around him jutted out tremendously.

Geode grabbed Thorn by the lengthiest protrusion and picked him up overhead as he rushed toward the snakeman, who was being pushed back and impaled by Bull and his horns. The boy slammed down onto the snakeman, hurling Thorn as if the boy were a hammer at the creature's head. It proved to be effective as I could see the snake-human's brains splatter and blood flow rapidly down its bare torso.

I felt relief wash over me. It was finally over.

You're useless. Where'd your backbone and will go?

Bull and Geode pulled back slightly as the snakeman slumped over, but as the children pulled away, the snakeman's body tore. From his snake-like tail, vines emerged, dripping blood and covered in teeth, and they wrapped around Thorn, who struggled to free himself from their grasp.

Geode and Bull reacted quickly and grabbed at the vines. But the two were powerless compared to the bloody abomination that tightened its grip, eliciting screams from Thorn.

"Thorn!" Both the Caretaker and the children yelled out and moved toward him. But the vines clenched and squeezed, bursting Thorn's spiked shell and splattering pieces of the boy across the demolished ground.

"NO!" Cries echoed, and the environment collapsed as the vines felt the weight of everyone's abilities. But no matter how much they demolished the area further, it wouldn't bring Thorn back.

Good riddance. The brats are annoying.

Both the gorilla and the snake were convincingly dead this time, as were the vines that emerged from the snake. Grief filled the air, and sobs seeped out from the children who mourned Thorn. The Caretaker returned to his aged form and stood over the remains that lined the ground, a gruff sigh escaping his lips.